It was a pleasure to walk with my father through that part of the city on Sunday before noon. Everyone greeted him. People would take off their hats, wave, bow, they would always have a courteous greeting at hand. Father responded to the greeting in four languages and with different nuances. We followed him: "Am onoarea sa va salut! Respecte! Toata cinstea! Buna ziua!" This was in Romanian. The most frequent greetings. "Jó napot kivánok! Alázatos szolgája", in Hungarian. He also greeted in Transylvanian Saxon: "Gän dooch!", a dialect which was hard to learn for us, the children. He would say: "Habe die Ehre! Guten Tag! Grüss Gott!". Hardly ever: "Servus!" Never: "Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame". Or: "Heil Hitler".
by Eginald Schlattner (b. 1933)
